FPL Wisc. Point Beach 2 reactor shut

NEW YORK Oct 15 (Reuters) - FPL Group Inc's FPL.N 514-megawatt Unit 2 at the Point Beach nuclear power station in Wisconsin shut by early Thursday from 96 percent power early Wednesday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a report.

Electricity traders guessed the unit shut for a planned six-week refueling and maintenance outage expected to start in mid October.

The unit last shut from about April 7-May 9, 2008. It is on an 18-month refueling outage.

The 1,026 MW Point Beach station is located in Two Creeks in Manitowoc County about 35 miles southeast of Green Bay. There are 514 MW two units at the station, which entered service in 1970 and 1972. The NRC renewed the plant's original 40-year operating licenses in 2005 for another 20 years until 2030 and 2033.

Unit 1 continued to operate at full power.

One MW powers about 800 homes in Wisconsin.

FPL, of Juno Beach, Florida, owns and operates about 38,000 MW of generating capacity across the United States, markets energy commodities, and transmits and distributes electricity to more than 4.5 million customers in Florida. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by John Picinich)